Division Woodtech is born

While searching for promising business areas, the Division Engineering was founded in 1990. It was a special machine department that developed machines for companies in the surrounding region, such as a grinding machine for Fill Metallbau. 

 

As this area proved to be not particularly profitable, the plans for the thin cutting system were taken out of the drawer. The frame saw that Johann Wintersteiger had already developed in 1970 for ski production at Fischer was converted for parquet flooring. The relationship with Banholzer (Banso) – known today as WINTERSTEIGER Sägen GmbH in Arnstadt, Thuringia – already existed, since hard wood (e.g., oak) could only be cut with saw blades from Banholzer. Patents for scraper saws and channels – two basic components of the frame saw – were registered.

 

In 1991, the thin-cutting frame saw was exhibited at LIGNA in Hanover with great success. We collected 500 contacts in a trade fair booth with a floorspace of 16 m2 – our interested visitors had very little room! The frame saw had actually been developed for parquet flooring, but the first customers were Sinus, a manufacturer of crates from Greece, and a mousetrap factory from Neuburg an der Donau in Germany.

 

With the increasing popularity of multi-layer parquet at the beginning of the 1990s, the Division Woodtech continued to develop very successfully and steadily expanded its range of products. Today, the "World of Woodtech" consists of five very successful WINTERSTEIGER companies:

WINTERSTEIGER AG in Ried, Austria, global market leader in thin-cutting saw machines for engineered flooring, furniture, multi-layer boards, and timber surface repair and cosmetics (TRC)

WINTERSTEIGER Sägen GmbH in Arnstadt, Germany, one of the largest and most modern saw blade manufacturers in Europe

SERRA Maschinenbau GmbH in Rimsting am Chiemsee, leading manufacturer of broadband sawmills in Germany

VAP-WINTERSTEIGER GmbH in Mettmach, Austria, the automation specialist in engineered flooring, furniture, and multi-layer boards, as well as industrial sawmill technology

Heermann Maschinenbau GmbH in Frickenhausen, Germany, specializes in complete, innovative and tailored saw and cutting systems for a wide range of materials

In 2022, the Division WOODTECH generated sales of 54 million euros with a workforce of 230 people.